Continental Micronesia will discontinue its Guam-Sydney service as of March 31. The Continental Airlines subsidiary has been operating the route three times a week with a DC-10 since April 15, 1995. It is dropping the service because it failed to draw enough leisure traffic from Australia to Guam and Micronesia, a Continental spokesman said.
Xionix Simulation, Irving, Texas, said it received a contract from United to upgrade 747 and 757 autoflight system trainers, the first major award for Xionix since it was acquired by Evans&Sutherland.
Delta will increase its four weekly flights to Nice from New York Kennedy to daily service April 5. The airline said it offers the only nonstop service in the market, on which it carried more than 80,000 passengers last year. The carrier also is offering companion fares for travel to Vancouver from 64 U.S. cities. Fares range from $395 to $598 roundtrip on flights connecting through Salt Lake City and Cincinnati. The companion fares are valid for travel March 13 through May 23. Tickets must be purchased by April 19.
Bassett Communications, Ellicott City, Md., plans to launch production this spring of Air Tour America, a cable TV series on touring the U.S. by air. Bassett is developing the series in cooperation with the U.S. Air Tour Association and Network Enterprises, which specializes in aviation documentaries, will distribute it. The series will be on the programming schedule of the planned Aviation Channel, a national cable channel for the aviation industry.
A 23% surge in traffic across the Atlantic and a 15% boost in Pacific markets helped United increase traffic 11% in February (DAILY, March 7). Capacity was up 7.4%, factor rose 2.1 points and boardings gained 11%. Feb 96 Feb 95 2 Mths 96 2 Mths 95 RPMs 8,279,172,000 7,459,292,000 16,790,350,000 15,903,333,000 ASMs 12,481,549,000 11,622,893,000 25,287,065,000 24,421,906,000 LoadFtr% 66.3 64.2 66.4 65.1
Military Traffic Management Command plans to standardize "all Department of Defense procedures for the movement of freight via air carrier, air forwarder and air taxi." A publication, MTMC Freight Traffic Rules Publication No. 5 (MFTRP No. 5), will regulate government air shipments between the continental U.S. and Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Canada. The draft publication can be obtained from the MTMC Homepage on the Internet at http://baileys-mtmcwww.army.mil. When the MTMC Homepage screen has loaded, access the "Functional Support" button on the screen.
Lufthansa told the German parliament last week that it made about 500 million Deutschmarks (US$340 million) in 1995 on sales of about DM20 billion (US$13.6 billion), even though a weaker U.S. dollar hurt its performance in the U.S. The results will be released officially May 21 at the carrier's annual meeting.
The House Transportation Committee last week filed a report (House Report 104-475, Part I) on legislation (H.R.2276) to establish FAA as an independent body and mandate other reforms in the agency. The full House is scheduled tomorrow to consider the bill, which was approved by the committee last year. Under the bill, FAA would be governed by a three-member board appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The board would select a chief executive officer to manage the day-to-day operation of the agency.
FAA Technical Center will present a Technology Transfer Week April 9-11 at its Atlantic City, N.J., Airport facility. Small businesses, especially former Defense Department contractors, will be able to learn of opportunities for technology transfer and talk with FAA engineers and scientists. FAA also will "reaffirm" its commitment to bring research and technology to the private sector in the form of knowledge, facilities, products and product application, and clarify technology needs relative to its mission.
British Airways Chairman Colin Marshall will be the guest speaker at the International Aviation Club's monthly luncheon March 19. Lunch begins at 12:30 p.m. at the Capital Hilton, 16th and K St. N.W. Reservations by mail are due by noon, March 15, to David O'Connor, IATA-Suite 285N, 1001 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C. 20004.
Inmarsat Assembly authorized the acquisition of additional satellite capacity for navigation, calling the move a further step in its evaluation of a global International Satellite Navigation System. Inmarsat also agreed on the use of its system "solely for peaceful purposes."
Alaska Air Group is asking shareholders to let it increase its authorized common stock to 50 million shares from the current 30 million. While only 13.74 million shares are outstanding, Alaska says in its latest preliminary proxy statement it may finance continued growth at least in part through the sale of more common stock.
Norden Systems has been awarded a $5 million contract to supply an advanced surface movement guidance and control system to Singapore Changi Airport as a subcontractor to Philips Singapore.
AAR Corp. said preliminary results show net income increased to $4.1 million in the quarter ended Feb. 29, the third of its fiscal year, compared with net income of $2.9 million for the same period a year earlier. Sales hit a record $136 million, up 9%. For the first nine months, net income rose to $11 million from $6.9 million and sales increased 14% to $367 million.
Air Transport Association Cargo Traffic January, 1 Month 1996 Revenue Ton-Miles (000) January January % 1996 1995 Change Domestic Freight 630,519 627,426 0.5 Mail 145,327 145,242 0.1 Total 775,846 772,668 0.4 International Freight 500,281 517,260 (3.3)
USAir says it outperformed all the other major carriers in a second round of FAA security inspections. FAA began Level 3 inspections last fall of ticket counters, gates and baggage checks.
Tower Air flew 3.2% fewer block hours in February compared with the same month last year. For the first two months of the year, Tower flew 6,649 block hours, a 1.7% decrease from the same period in 1995. Capacity for the month was up 18.2% to 324 million available seat miles, while traffic for the year grew 19% to 225 million revenue passenger miles. Load factor grew 0.4 points to 69.4%.
FAA Administrator David Hinson welcomed three new members to the agency's research, engineering and development advisory committee. The terms of two members, former FAA Administrator John McLucas and John Olcott, president of the National Business Aircraft Association, expired at the February meeting. Joining the committee were Wesley Harris, an aeronautics and astronautics professor at MIT, Aaron Gellman, director of the Transportation Center at Northwestern University, and Brian Rowe, chairman emeritus of GE Aircraft Engines.
Air France will increase service to Los Angeles from Paris to 12 times per week during its summer schedule, which begins April 4 and ends Oct. 24. During the rest of the year, the carrier flies a single daily nonstop with what it says is the only 747 in the market.
Two airlines ordered by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to pay detention costs for illegal aliens while they awaited hearings on political asylum requests are entitled to recover those expenses from INS, a federal appeals court ruled. The decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Case Nos. 94-5076, 94-5077) reverses a U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruling that dismissed claims filed by Aerolineas Argentinas and Pakistan International Airlines.
Northwest Airlines has named Jeff McDougle managing director-corporate finance. He joined Northwest in July 1994 as director-corporate finance. In his new position, he will have responsibility for private capital markets, including commercial banking and municipal finance activities.
House last week approved 209 to 206 legislation (H.R.3019) to continue funding for the federal government through fiscal 1996. The bill, to be considered today by the Senate, includes a measure to guarantee collective bargaining rights for FAA's unionized employees after FAA adopts its new personnel management system (DAILY, March 7).
China Airlines, which has largely withdrawn from the within-Taiwan market in recent years, has indicated that it wants to regain its position as a leading domestic carrier. Bowing to government pressure, CAL gave up its Taipei-Hualien, Taipei-Makung and Taipei-Taitung routes. Following a change in government policy that will permit international carriers to conduct domestic flights, announced late last year, CAL wants to resume service on its former routes.
Rolls-Royce reported 1995 pretax profits of 175 million pounds, up from 101 million the year before. The profit included 30 million pounds from operations of Allison Engine Co., acquired March 24, 1995. Sales increased to 3.6 billion pounds from 3.2 billion pounds, including 377 million pounds contributed by Allison. Backlog stood at 6.2 billion pounds at yearend, compared with 5.9 billion pounds, as the inclusion of Allison more than offset a Rolls reduction in commercial aircraft engines. Chairman Ralph Robins said he is "encouraged" by the 1995 performance.
